Law enforcement and local officials say there is not much they can do about signs featuring a racist slur that were recently posted at a home just outside Belfast, despite some area residents expressing alarm about the displays.
The messages have been up for several weeks outside a home at 824 Waterville Road in the town of Waldo. It’s one of the last properties that drivers see before crossing the municipal boundary into Belfast on the busy road, which is also Route 137.
The most prominent display sits just above the wooden post where a mailbox would go, featuring an offensive word for Black people followed by the name “John.” The same phrase is also used in a handpainted message on the side of a shed on the property. Several other obscure and unintelligible messages are painted elsewhere on the property, including on a dilapidated boat.
While Waldo is a small, rural town, the offensive language stands out because nearby Belfast is a progressive city that just recently passed a proclamation condemning racism and other forms of hate, following another recent case in which someone yelled a homophobic slur at two men walking through downtown.
But while some area residents fear that such examples of bigotry are growing more common, officials say it can be hard to clamp down on them if they are not part of a hate crime or create an imminent threat.
At least one person has reported the signs to police. On May 29, a Maine State Police trooper went to the home after someone reported “offensive language written on a vehicle and property at that location,” according to Shannon Moss, spokesperson for the state Department of Public Safety.
But the trooper determined that no crime had been committed and that the messages were protected under the First Amendment, according to Moss, who noted that the resident has been the subject of “multiple complaints” to the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office.
The trooper told the person who reported the signs that they didn’t constitute a hate crime, but that they could contact town officials to see if any local rules would restrict such displays.
The property at 824 Waterville Road is owned by John Brown, according to town tax records. No one responded when a reporter knocked on the door, and other contact information could not be found.
Ian Stover, the chair of Waldo’s Select Board, said the town hasn’t received any complaints about the displays. He said that would have to happen for the town to consider taking action in the case.
“With free speech, there’s not much we can do,” Stover said. “It’s written on his private property. Complaints would come to me, but … we haven’t had any yet.”
The town could decide to intervene if the statements included specific political or racial threats, or incited violence, Stover added.
The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that hateful forms of speech — such as KKK rallies or wearing blackface — can be protected under the First Amendment in many cases.
Neighbors of the home in Waldo declined to discuss the signs.
Belfast officials also largely declined to comment on the property in the nearby town, noting that they have not received any complaints about the signs and referring a reporter to the city’s public statements against hate.
But even if the signs aren’t violating any laws, some area residents suggested that they still reflect a growing comfort that people feel with expressing harmful views toward marginalized groups.
Michael Wright was the man who recently appeared before the Belfast City Council to describe his experience of having a homophobic slur shouted at him from a passing pickup truck while he was walking downtown with his husband late last year, prompting councilors to approve a proclamation against hate speech.
In an interview, Wright, who works as a clinical social worker and therapist, said that derogatory comments directed to a minority group can make any member of that group feel unsafe.
“Racist remarks, misogynistic remarks, antisemitic remarks, I think it’s important to see it as hate speech that we can’t tolerate here,” Wright said. “Yes, you do have the right to express opinions, even controversial ones, but we need, as a region, to hold to our values. In this region, and most of Maine, I don’t believe people really embody that kind of hatred towards minorities.”
